Wonder Woman’s new costume

I was surprised to find that this was a collection of stories and art work with an article on the new costume and an introduction by Lynda Carter. Really surprised since I was expecting it to just launch into the new story.

The stories appeared to be all new, although I regularly get my comics subscriptions I haven’t been able to read them for a while hence why I assume they’re new. The first seemed to involve all of DC’s superheroines and showed how they felt about her which was quite interesting but I had a soft spot for the story featuring Power Girl (rolls eyebrows at her costume, yet again) since it was quite funny. There was an adventure with Superman which featured a bad guy that I think I remember from my early days of reading WW during the seventies. Before I forget the first story also featured the Kapatelis. I hadn’t realised those characters were introduced way back in 1986, hadn’t realised it was so long ago! Reminds me that around that time they tried to pitch a WW tv show with those characters as a sort of soap. Some of the full page artwork in 600 was just gorgeous. I wonder if they’ll release some of them as posters?

Anyway, I digress. By the time I reached the reboot there weren’t many pages left which was unsatisfying as although I still don’t like the new outfit – her leggings are very tight, so much for trying to make the outfit more acceptable – I still was intrigued enough by the story to want to know more. So this issue just felt like a big tease really. Hope I can get my hands on the next one soon.

I’ve been a Wonder Woman fan practically all my life. I grew up watching Lynda Carter bending metal bars and running around in heels and a basque at Saturday teatimes.

I have too many WW action figures to count and one of my favourite mugs is a large WW breakfast mug.

My mug 🙂

I love WW and she was a formative part of my life. Even that time when at about age six I climbed out of my bedroom window on to the flat roof below and tried to climb back up the wall using a net curtain cord. I quickly discovered that I didn’t have her technique.

As a comic book reader, I’ve always been highly critical of the way female characters are drawn, usually with enormous breasts, and in costumes that are barely there. It’s just as well that Powergirl is strong considering what she’s packing up top.

Any other woman would have back strain and be seeking a breast reduction. I read Tales of the Teen Titans as a teen and Starfire wore very little which I found quite bizarre.

WW’s knickerline has got quite cut at times which I found annoying but the overall outfit…well…I’m feminist and yet, and yet, I love that old costume. Maybe it is because it’s so deeply rooted in me.

The tv show got me into comics in a big way and at 38 I’m still buying her title and Ms Marvel and Spider-Woman just as I did when I was a child. Ms Marvel’s costume isn’t any better either. There’s slightly more coverage now than from her belly button baring outfit from 1977 but it’s still quite high cut.

My first thoughts on seeing the new outfit was “oh my god, they really want to get that film off the ground, that’s why they’ve done this.” Because it was never really going to be that viable to have an actress running around on the big screen in a swimsuit. Even Halle Berry in that abomination of a movie and abomination to the comic book character film version of Catwoman had trousers of a kind.

So this outfit is going to be more saleable in that regard. If, and when, a big screen version comes around, I would have prefer to see her in her Amazonian warrior armour. She was doing it years before Zena and that look would work.

This new look is so dated and what is going on with the bracelets? They’ve now been turned into gloves. I’ve always loved WW’s bracelets although in some versions they looked incredibly heavy but then she is a super human so I guess she could the weight. But what they have her in now is appalling and just does look right. Apparently they’ll allow her to leave a Zorroesque W mark on anyone who crosses her. This seems miles away from the bullets and bracelets of old. Guess she won’t lose her powers if a man ties her hands together either. (no, really)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely against WW changing her look. Although I hated the change from the glorious golden eagle on her chest to the double W symbol. It was only after I realised the double W had been around for twenty years (changed in 1982 I think) that I finally accepted it. When Diana lost her WW title to Artemis she started wearing a bra and cycling shorts. I hated that.

So, pluses for the new costume are at least she’s got some coverage I guess. Negatives are that it looks 10-20 years out of date. And she hasn’t got proper bracelets.

One of the things that bothers me more than the costume redesign is that they’ve also changed her age. In this time line Wondy didn’t grow up in Themyscira (Paradise Island) for thousands of years. She was taken into hiding at age three and the book’s set twenty years later making her twenty-three.

The new storyline is written by J Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame. I used to read Supreme Power his “sort of” revision of Superman, Batman & WW on Marvel a few years ago. I do like him as a writer so I’m going to give it a chance. He did some great work on Spider-Man Peter Parker some years back too.

While I was looking for images for this post I found a link to this game which looks pretty good unless you’re trying to fight against Wonder Woman!